This afternoon, in the United
States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, a grand jury indicted
the director of the Illinois-based Benevolence International Foundation. Enaam
Arnaout is charged with conspiracy to obtain fraudulently charitable donations
in order to provide financial assistance to al Qaeda and other organizations engaged
in violence and terrorism.

The grand jury charges Arnaout
with operating Benevolence International Foundation as a racketeering enterprise.
Benevolence International Foundation, or BIF, is a tax-exempt, purportedly charitable
organization with offices in Illinois, Pakistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and elsewhere.
The indictment charges that Arnaout operated BIF for more than a decade in order
to use fraudulently the charitable contributions of Muslim-Americans, U.S. Corporations,
and other donors to support terrorism and other violence overseas.

The grand jury charges Arnaout
with seven counts:

One count of conspiracy to
engage in a racketeering enterprise.

One count of conspiracy to
provide material support to terrorists.

Two counts of money laundering.

Two counts of mail fraud,
and

One count of wire fraud.

If convicted of these crimes,
Arnaout will face a maximum punishment of 90 years in prison without the possibility
of parole.

Arnaout is accused of defrauding
charitable contributors by falsely claiming that the Benevolence International
Foundation used donated funds solely for humanitarian relief. In fact, funds were
being used to support al Qaeda and other groups engaged in armed violence overseas.
In addition, in an effort to conceal donors who knowingly supported terrorism,
Arnaout is charged with commingling charitable contributions intended for humanitarian
purposes with contributions intended to support armed violence.

In order to deceive donors,
and to guarantee the success of his operation, Arnaout is charged with concealing
at all times from the government, the general public and a considerable number
of donors his relationships with al Qaeda, its leader, Usama Bin Laden, and other
terrorist organizations. In fact, the indictment describes an archive of incriminating
documents recovered in the Bosnian offices of BIF in March 2002  documents
that link Arnaout directly to Usama Bin Laden and al Qaeda.

Discovered in the possession
of the Benevolence International Foundation were:

Notes summarizing the 1988
meetings in Afghanistan at which the al Qaeda terrorist network was originally
formed.

Notes specifying the text
of the original oath of allegiance pledged by al Qaeda members.

A list of wealthy sponsors
from Saudi Arabia, including references to Usama Bin Laden and Adel Batterjee,
the founder of BIF.

Documents indicating that
in the mid to late 1980s, Arnaout served as the director of communications at
a mujahideen camp in Afghanistan under the direction of Bin Laden. Additional
documents were found indicating that Arnaout was involved in acquiring and distributing
hundreds of rockets, mortars, and bombs on behalf of a camp in Afghanistan dating
to the time period when al Qaeda was founded there.

The documents recovered in
the Benevolence International Foundation's Bosnia offices provide for the first
time documentary proof of the founding of al Qaeda and the oath sworn by al Qaeda
members. The documents uncovered from the Benevolence International Foundation,
headed by the man charged in the indictment today, show the American people and
the world for the first time tangible proof of the founding of the world's most
dangerous terrorist network and the oath of allegiance its members pledge. It
is chilling that the origins of al Qaeda were discovered in a charity claiming
to do good.

From the first hours following
the September 11 attacks, the Department of Justice has pledged to use all of
our means within the law to identify, disrupt and dismantle terrorist networks.
A central element of our strategy is to identify, disrupt and destroy those organizations
that supply the financing that makes terrorism possible.

There is no moral distinction
between those who carry out terrorist attacks and those who knowingly finance
terrorist attacks. And what is perhaps most disturbing about this case is that
Enaam Arnaout is charged with using a purportedly charitable organization to deceive
Muslim-American charitable givers, who are obliged by the principles of their
religion to donate to legitimate charity.

Please note a charge from
the indictment  In November 2001 Arnaout spoke via telephone to a BIF employee
in Bosnia and agreed with that employee that financial support for an injured
fighter could not be reflected on BIF's financial records and that the employee
should create a new list of orphans as a means of justifying the expenditures
-- It is sinister to prey on good hearts to fund the works of evil.

The Department of Justice,
under the leadership of the President, will use every means, and leave no stone
unturned in finding those who will knowingly fund violence and terrorist groups.
We will sort through the evidence and separate legitimate donors from those who
break the law. So to those who give to legitimate charities, my message today
is this: know that the United States government supports charitable giving and
will, as we are doing in this case, protect legitimate donors from fraud.

But to those who would exploit
the generosity of others, break the law, and provide financing to terrorists and
other groups engaged in violence, my message is this: we will find the sources
of terrorist blood money, we will shut down these sources, and we will ensure
that both terrorists and their financiers meet the same, swift, certain justice
of the United States of America.

Many individuals are responsible
for today's indictment, but none more so than the U.S. Attorney for the Northern
District of Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald. In this case and many others, Pat has
been a leader in the Department of Justice in our core mission to prevent terrorist
attacks. I thank Pat for his leadership and his service.

I recognize and thank FBI
Special Agent in Charge Tom Kneir and the Assistant Special Agent in Charge for
the IRS Criminal Investigative Division Charlotte Bonner. Both these individuals
have distinguished themselves in this case, and we thank them for their effort.

Now I will turn to U.S. Attorney
Patrick Fitzgerald to comment and then we will be happy to take your questions.